Multiple school records were broken at the swimming and diving University Athletic Association (UAA) championships at the University of Chicago in Chicago, IL, including the Judges’ oldest school record. 

Rookie Ema Rennie ’23 was one of the top performers for the Judges and broke two school records during the meet. She is only the second woman in Brandeis history to ever break 54 seconds in the 100-yard freestyle, after Hall of Famer Wendy Lowengrub ’90. Rennie finished 23rd overall and seventh in the ‘C’ finals of the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 53.57. 

Rennie also shaved over three-tenths of a second off her previous best in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 24.18, placing 11th in the preliminary race and earning herself a spot in the ‘B’ finals. She was unfortunately disqualified in the finals and did not place. 

Fellow rookie Bailey Gold ’23 lowered her own school record by almost a second in the 100-yard butterfly, finishing in 15th overall and seventh in the ‘B’ finals with a time of 58.01 seconds. Gold broke her own record in the preliminary race, completing the race in 57.35 seconds. She also finished 11th overall and third in the ‘B’ finals of the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:09.48 and 8th in the ‘C’ finals in the 100-yard backstroke at 1:00.02. 

The Brandeis “A” relay team of Tamir Zitelny ’20, Daniel Wohl ’21, Marcelo Ohno-Machado ‘21 and Matthew Arcemont ’20 finished eighth in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:06.68, cutting more than two seconds off the previous school record. 

Wohl also shaved 12 seconds off his lifetime best in the 500-yard freestyle, finishing with a time of 4:36.08, good for 12th place in the preliminary race and a place in the ‘B’ finals. He ultimately finished 16th with a time of 4:37.20. He also finished 10th overall and second in the ‘B’ finals of the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:40.23. Wohl was 13th overall and fifth in the ‘B’ finals of the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 46.30.

The Brandeis “A” relay team of Audrey Kim ’21, Emily McGovern ’21, Gold and Rennie decreased the previous record in the 400-yard medley relay by over a minute with a time of 4:00.46. 

The women’s 100-yard breaststroke was the only event of the weekend with two Judges in the finals. McGovern and Olivia Stebbins ’22 finished second and sixth in the ‘C’ finals with times of 1:07.71 and 1:09.69, respectively. McGovern finished 18th overall, while Stebbins was 22nd. 

Zitelny finished in 17th place and first in the ‘C’ finals of the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 49.44. He also finished second in the ‘C’ finals of the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 50.23. 

Selznick finished 18th overall and second in the ‘C’ final of the 400-yard IM with a time of 4:11.02 and came in 18th in the 1650-yard freestyle with a time of 16:42.53. 

Brendon Lu ’22 finished in 18th overall and second in the ‘C’ finals in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:08.51 and fourth in the ‘C’ finals of the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 58.29, over two seconds faster than his time in the preliminaries, where he placed 24th. He was less than a second away from qualifying for the finals in the 200-yard IM, where he finished 29th in the preliminaries with a time of 1:57.37. 

Abbie Etzweiler ‘22 finished 22nd in the 1650-yard freestyle with a time of 18:54.63, almost five seconds faster than her seed time. 

In the relays on the men’s side, the Brandeis “A” team of Wohl, Arcemont, Ohno-Machado and Zitelny finished seventh in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:23.83. The Brandeis “A” quartet of Zitelny, Lu, Arcemont and Ohno-Machado also finished seventh in the 400-yard medley relay with a time of 3:26.37. Zitelny, Lu and Arcemont this time were joined by Wohl in the 200-yard medley relay where the Brandeis “A” team finished seventh with a time of 1:33.63, one second faster than their posted time in the preliminaries. Finally, the Brandeis “A” team of Wohl, Arcemont, Ohno-Machado and Lu placed seventh in the 800-yard freestyle relay with a time of 7:00.78.

On the women’s side, the Brandeis “A” team of Gold, Rennie, Kim and Musaku finished eighth with a time of 8:05.75 in the ‘A’ finals. The quartet also finished in eighth in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:37.73. Musaku and Rennie were also joined by Natalya Wozab ’20, Adrienne Aponte ’20 in the 200-yard freestyle relay, placing eighth with a time of 1:40.94. 

After the three-day meet, both Brandeis teams finished in eighth place, with the men earning 423 points and the women 308 points.